Volume 3

This volume of Stash is dedicated to the United Weed Workers group operating out of Hamilton.

To learn more about your rights as a worker go to unitedweedworkers.com

T Stash Volume 3 December 2021

here’s a lot of bad actors in the weed scene. I come from the legacy market and spent years risking my freedom in the name of helping patients. While profits were always a concern, the overwhelming sense of community and the commitment to an ethics that placed the group above self outweighed turning a buck.

Now, with hundreds of stores opening we hear statements like “Poor is More” and “Let’s take market share from the independents.” It makes my skin crawl but we can do something about it.

By telling stories about the weed workers of Canada and promoting brands that put people first we can shine a light on both the bright and dark corners of this amazing community.

We worked together to legalize this plant and we can work together again to vote with our dollars. We can use these dollars to out the Brads n’ Chads in their Armani suits who brandish Rolexes while their workers struggle to make ends meet. We can spend a few extra bucks to buy from the independent stores that were born from—and survive—in a place of passion. We can at least make our collective financial voice heard while zombie-walking through this capitalist game we’re forced to play.

Let’s smoke good weed that’s grown and sold by good people. Let’s organize and scare the suits who viewed legalization solely as “the green rush”.

Let’s show them what the people can do.

stashmagazine.ca @stash.mag Copyright © 2021 Will McEwen All Rights Reserved

Will Zorn Editor

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he number of retail stores in Ontario reached 1,000 in September of this year. This led David Lobo, the interim CEO of the Ontario Cannabis Store to a stark conclusion: “Unfortunately, this rapid growth will likely result in some retailers being faced with increased competition and a crowded marketplace, which could result in some closures and market rightsizing.”

The same kind of consolidation we’ve seen in the licensed producer space has been happening in the retail sector as well. Chains like Tokyo Smoke and Canna Cabana continue to buy up licenses from independent retailers. Some say the increased competition will lead to better offerings for customers. If a shop wants to survive they’ll need to find a profitable target market and compete for that.

While the bigger chains compete with each other to be the next Walmart of Weed many entrepreneurs are finding innovative and creative ways to get loyal, repeat customers. Instead of trying to showcase all 700+ shops we decided to focus on just a handful we think are standing out among the crowd.

LITTLE LEAF, BIG BRAINS

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by Will McEwen

hen it comes to selling cannabis through a retail shop Paul Thompson and his partner, Leanne McPhie, have thought of everything. Before they opened Little Leaf in Stratford, Ontario they visited dozens of stores, taking notes on where they could improve on the customer experience. Paul’s background in consumer electronics and Leanne’s experience in project management allowed them to take that list of notes and tackle the opening of a weed store with the efficiency of a special forces strike team.

They hired Zen Woodworking, a local contractor, to do all their carpentry. They split the store up into sections based on category to avoid overlapping conversations about different products. They are the first and only banner store for RYOT, another Canadian company focused on accessories. Perhaps most importantly they hired a diverse workforce who are passionate about cannabis.

“I hate the word budtender. A budtender just stands behind a counter and says ‘Okay, what do you want?’ At our store we have over 700 products so our main goal is to educate customers.”

The staff at Little Leaf are given the title of Cannsultant and are trained on a proprietary system developed

by Paul and Leanne. The trademarked process is called ‘W.E.E.D. the S.M.A.R.T. Approach to Cannabis Sales.’ It’s designed to guide customers through a series of questions to determine the best product for their desired sessions.

They call this the Little Leaf, Big Experience.

Paul relates the role of Little Leaf’s Cannsultants to the employees at LCBO stores across the province.

“I really rely on those LCBO employees to help me select a bottle of wine based on the different flavours, profiles, aromas, pairing and effects. I find cannabis really lines up with wine—the variety, the complexity.”

The number of cannabis stores in Stratford has tripled in the last year, bringing the total to six for a population of only 30,000.

“There’s going to be a lot of competition,” Paul says. “But if we’re all carrying Good Supply, Tweed, Edison— it’s hard to differentiate ourselves on product so a broader selection from the OCS is necessary.”

Although he is careful not to outwardly advocate for a minimum price for cannabis he says with a smaller price gap between retailers “loyalty becomes more of a factor. They’ll come to our store because of education, the layout, the environment, the experience versus going to another cash and carry type store.”

Paul and Leanne continue expanding and strengthening their customer base. Through social media, a commitment to education and a desire to meet their customer’s needs Little Leaf is slowly but surely becoming a knot in the fabric of Canada’s legal cannabis industry.

Paul remembers the resistance to seatbelts when they became mandatory and likened it to the stigma around cannabis—it won’t last forever.

“Little Leaf is built for the consumer to open up the conversation,” he says, “and let people know that all of society did not cave in and die after legalization.”

NEED ?

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by Will McEwen

he newly opened Ouid shop in Barrhaven is just the latest in a long line of entrepreneurial ventures by owner Lauren Tansley. She’s more commonly associated with Ouidblends, an herbal smoking blend she designed to be mixed in with cannabis now sold in dozens of stores internationally.

With a graduate degree in history, Tansley had been working at the Library and Archives of Canada when legalization unfolded. She got a toehold in the industry as a junior marketer at Indiva but within a few months she led their entire marketing department. Among many of her other projects she managed a complete redesign of the company’s brand and a partnership with Bhang edibles.

Entrepreneurship is in Tansley’s DNA. Earlier in her life she made thousands of dollars reselling used IKEA furniture on eBay. Later she paid a programmer to scrape a website for marketing contacts and resold those for a profit. When it came to cannabis she wanted to open her own store but Ontario’s lottery system didn’t play in her favour right away. Although she did help another retail store open, Tansley realized she’d need another angle if she wanted to start her own cannabis business. The problem she decided to solve was important but often overlooked.

“Ouidblends is for people who want to smoke but don’t want to get too high,” Tansley says. “Truth, I was just getting too high all the time.”

Tobacco wasn’t a good mix for Tansley because it has nicotine in it and even a small amount can overwhelm the taste of cannabis. Instead, with the help of an herbalist, she developed several different blends of herbs which can be rolled into a joint or smoked on their own. The blends are made up of various plants and herbs to produce unique and complex aromas. A staff member at Ouid in Barrhaven is using one of the blends on its own as a cigarette smoking cessation aid.

Tansley picked a non-cannabis based business to enter the cannabis space because she thought her products

wouldn’t be as restricted in terms of advertising and distribution.

“I played myself,” she laughs, “they’re actually more highly regulated. I could not find a payment gateway provider. Even the ones that did cannabis weren’t 100% sure about herbs.”

Despite having to work out kinks in production and basic business functions for a brand new product, Tansley managed to expand availability. She now has several repeat wholesalers and will be listed in the Ontario Cannabis Store soon.

With her beachhead established it wasn’t long until her dream of opening a retail store became a reality.

Tansley and Ottawa real estate developer Huntington Properties partnered last year to open several stores under the Ouid brand.

“I was super nervous,” Tansley says, “You’ve got to give up so much but they have been the most incredible operating partners ever.”

In an effort to increase margins and stand out from the crowd Tansley is designing her own suite of accessories to sell under the Ouid brand. This approach is more expensive up front but can yield greater margins in the long run. It’s also a crucial element of her competitive strategy.

“For me it was really important that we develop something that was just ours. So we didn’t just buy someone else’s product and slap a logo on it.”

Helping her design this suite of products is Dave Shaw, a former product designer for David’s Tea. The pair have collaborated with Miwaki Junior and the GCC Shop to create exclusive pipes. When refining the basic idea of a grinder, Shaw and Tansley did things like reduce the number of threads keeping its lid screwed in place.

“We were thinking ‘What if someone with arthritis buys this and they can’t grind it or open the lid properly?’”

The store itself features large colorful walls and whitewashed shelving reminiscent of a beach house in Key West. Sweaters and tote bags labelled “Moms Smoke Weed” frame CBD bath bombs, concentrates and of course every flavour of Ouidblends. For the tech or data inclined there’s also a waist high bar with sample nugs across from a giant, wall-mounted monitor. Pressing the small silver button in front of the nug brings up all the information about that cultivar on the wall-to-wall screens. There really is something for everyone.

“I’m really trying to offer home decor items that are functional cannabis products,” Tansley says. “We should celebrate the fact that weed is an awesome part of life. We don’t need to hide our stuff away anymore.”

Greenport 686 College St, Toronto As the first Canadian cannabis company owned by a woman of colour Greenport in Toronto is an industry trailblazer. Owner Vivianne Wilson told NOW Toronto back in March she had customers coming from as far away as Oakville. Wilson focuses on education and de-stigmatization and is a great truth seeker in the industry.

Collective Growers 534 Montreal Rd, Ottawa // 79 Pembroke St. W, Pembroke Karen Nguyen, one of the owners of Collective Growers, was motivated to get into the industry because of how cannabis helped her dying mother. “I wished we had known about it sooner,” she says. Today, after several years in cannabis marketing, she educates customers on the medicinal benefits of the plant while also recommending great recreational products. Although Nguyen can usually be found at the Ottawa location, Collective Growers also has a store in Pembroke.

Roll’d 500 Hazeldean Rd, Kanata In the sleepy suburb of Kanata sits an unassuming but superbly managed shop called Roll’d. Run by Tyler Audet and Kristina Simpson, this store was one of the first to carry Stash on their shelves. If you’re in the area check out their terpene bar or grab a pre-roll before heading out to the giant toboggan hill at Walter Baker park just a few minutes down the road.

LIFTED LEAF COLOURING BOOK

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n this volume’s Lifted Leaf Colouring Book collaboration we decided to showcase Kolblaze Sustainable Stoner Goods. Located in B.C. the online shop curates and designs top-end sustainable goods. With soaps, jewelery, cannabis accessories and clothing Kolblaze has something for every stoner.

HIGH

by Will McEwen

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s a legacy grower and hashmaker, Rick Moriarity has heard his fair share of cannabis lore posing as science over the years. Now, as the Chief Operating Officer of Canada’s premiere cannabis testing laboratory he finally has the tools to test them.

“There’s no real truth, no real science behind these stoner theories,” Moriarity says. “It’s very cool to finally be able to explore some of them.”

Although the current workload at High North Laboratories is enormous (and constantly growing) Moriarity and his team often partner with other researchers to help lay the groundwork for the future of cannabis science.

The best example of this is their work with the Trichome Research Initiative (TRI).

Created by the late Frenchy Cannoli (Didier Camilleri) the TRI is a partnership between the Frenchy Cannoli Brand, Lachlan Cheng of Cannibinerd and High North Labs to examine how cannabinoids and other metabolic compounds in cannabis resin change over time.

“We stand at a point in history similar to the wine industry in the late 1800s,” Cannoli wrote when announcing the initiative. “Good wines were made, but the great wines we enjoy today would never have been created without the discovery and understanding of the fermentation process.”

One of the first observations made in the study tossed an old stoner theory out the window: consuming old weed makes you sleepy. The theory goes that over time the THC in your herb degrades into CBN, another cannabinoid known for its sedative properties. After six months of accelerated aging using lighting and oxygen Moriarity got a big surprise.

“There was zero CBN created,” he says. “I would like to do a further study that’s at least a year, if not two years, where we’re aging and checking the stability and not in an accelerated fashion either. Just in a regular room with temperature fluctuations and darkness.”

With the passing of Frenchy Cannoli this past year the group’s efforts have been paused out of respect for him and his loved ones.

NORTH STRONG FREE &

“Frenchy was a passionate pioneer of cannabis. His love for quality grown flower and what can be done with its resin was seen in any interaction with him. The experience from his travels and openness to newer technology that still prioritizes quality was great to see. We want to continue working with Mme Cannoli to carry on his legacy and continue researching certain theories—whether its ageing hash to different terroirs or something else—it would be an honour to help confirm some of Frenchy’s theories.”

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hen asked what sets High North apart from other labs Moriarity takes a deep breath. He describes an industry where spreadsheets are paid for by people who don’t know what they’re looking for and produced by people who’ve never lit a joint in their life.

“We only specialize in cannabis,” he says. “The other labs are all run by scientists and not cannabis guys. Some of our employees have never seen or touched cannabis. They’ve never smoked it. I provide them with a basic cannabis education so they can understand the history, the effects. It’s very basic but I think it’s important they understand what they’re working with.”

In addition to educating High North’s employees and mythbusting stoner theories Moriarity uses his unique knowledge of cannabis cultivation to help his clients improve their products.

“We can give advice,” he says. “When we get a CoA (certificate of analysis) we can help explain what it means.

We actually keep an eye on trending and how changes in post harvest affect results.”

One of the biggest issues with cannabis testing is the inherent variety and diversity of the plant even when they’re clones of one another. Terpene levels ‘drift’ depending on where a plant is inside a grow room. Even on the same plant a bud from the bottom of a branch will have as much as a 5% difference in THC levels when compared to a bud from elsewhere on the plant. The number you see on the side of your new eighth is a precise measurement of the sample the lab received but it’s probably not exactly the THC level inside your jar due to variations between buds. This is partially why budtenders and other cannabis educators push consumers away from focusing on THC the way alcohol consumers focus on alcohol content.

Another theory Moriarity is keen to break down is one that’s got a perverse stranglehold on the cannabis industry: irradiating weed makes it safe to smoke.

“The biggest misconception with irradiation is that it means sterilization. It 100% does not mean sterilization,” Moriarity says. “That’s their goal but it does not always do that. There needs to be more research on this specific to cannabis instead of comparing research to food or other industries. There should be changes to how Health Canada regulates the testing of cannabis for microbial contaminants as well. It should be based on cannabis rather than a non-related pharmacopeia.”

Radiation doesn’t always have an effect on bacteria or cannabinoids but it does have a noticeable impact on terpene levels, moisture content and bag appeal.

“We’ve done studies and we feel that irradiation is not the way to go. There are a lot of beneficial microbes on a cannabis plant, “ Moriarity says. “If the lab is culturing on a plate for microbial testing and it’s healthy stuff and it shows the strength and quality of that plant why would we fail it? Cannabis is a natural plant that has healthy bacteria.”

It’s just another symptom of commercializing cannabis: treating it like food or alcohol.

“It’s really unfortunate,” Moriarity says, “most of the buyers have these strict regulations that are, in my opinion, not based on quality but rather a CoA with greater than 20% THC.” In response to these issues High North developed a new scoring algorithm. The algorithm compares flower based on a number of factors, including the concentrations of more metabolites like CBD and CBN, giving them greater insight into the quality of a product. Although Moriarity is quick to point out that product quality does not always equal consumer satisfaction (everyone’s endocannabinoid system is different) his scoring system is far superior to what industry buyers use today to make decisions.

All Moriarity can do, along with many other legacy folks, is patiently build the datasets to support his lived experience, educate where possible and push the cannabis knowledge base forward.

Recently he leveraged his network of cannabis contacts and his love of golf to raise over $10,000 for Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto at the first annual High North Fore 20 Charity Golf Classic.

Besides the care Sick Kids has given his friend’s child over the years, Moriarity chose to fundraise for the hospital because they are also pushing forward cannabis research. Researchers at Sick Kids published a study in 2018 showing safe dosage limits of THC and CBD for children suffering from a rare form of epilepsy known as Dravet Syndrome. The report concludes “treatment resulted in a reduction in seizure counts, spike index on EEG and improved quality of life measures.”

High North Labs is Canada’s largest licensed facility exclusively focused on cannabis testing. With Moriarity’s influence they’ve also become a keystone in the long term success of the industry. Not only have they set the standard for client care, they also set a great example for what the cannabis industry can do for society at large.

“Our goal here is to be the best in Canada and provide as much education as we can to help improve the industry. As the LPs do well, so do we,” Moriarity says. “We’re here for cannabis only.”

STONER SCIENCE

In this new series we partner with High North Labs to answer some burning questions. For our first experiment we decided to look at homemade edibles. Medium-chain triglyceride oil (MCT oil for short) happens to be one of the best human-consumable bases for making high powered edibles. The molecular structure of MCT oil, which is commonly derived from coconuts, binds easily with THC allowing edibles made with it to hit a higher potency.

But when infusing MCT oil with cannabis should we use heat? How much oil bonds with THC and how fast? Do we need to let it infuse overnight?

With some help from High North we decided to start our research with a simple question: How much THC bonds with MCT oil if left to infuse overnight without heat?

CONCLUSION We knew from our own experience that you don’t need heat to infuse MCT oil but it’s great to see exactly how much THC bonds overnight.

The results of this experiment raise a few more questions. What if we added more oil during the first wash? Would it increase the amount of THC in the strained solution?

What about the amount of time it takes to infuse? Do we really need to wait overnight for 70% of the THC to be infused or does it happen in the first hour? Similarly, if we use the stirring and heating method of infusion we may want to know how much heat is really required. How long does it really take to infuse?

These are just a few avenues we will explore in Stoner Science. If you have questions or ideas for experiments feel free to email us a at hello@ stashmagazine.ca

YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS Employee-owned Royal City is about to be acquired by Entourage Health (formerly WeedMD). Is this yet another deal designed to kill a competitor or slap lipstick on an ugly balance sheet? Or is this the deal that bucks the trend and helps a small producer follow through on big dreams? Editor Will Zorn spoke with Royal City’s top brass to find out.

by Will Zorn

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eing Editor for Stash has been an amazing opportunity. In May I interviewed Buck Young, Director and Co-Founder of Royal City Cannabis along with Geoff Webb, one of Royal City’s amazing sales staff. We chatted, discussed the industry and had a nice laugh. Afterwards, I settled into my desk and began the arduous process of transcribing quotes. Two hours later I was done. A beautiful two pages praising Royal City in large part for being employee-owned. I saved my draft, closed the tab and opened Reddit to this:

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uck. I deleted the draft, fell back into my seat and let out a noise that must’ve concerned the neighbour. Our publisher, Will [McEwen], and I reconnected. I was at a bit of a loss: our story highlighting independent cannabis featured a brand that was no longer independent. Will wasn’t so worried. I sent an email, set a time and eventually ended up on a video chat with Buck and Geoff to talk about what consumers can expect from the new company.

“So, what the fuck, man?” Will, who could give a MasterClass in honesty, started. “I thought you were employee-owned.”

Buck’s face lit up with a laugh as Will continued, “I think you had a plan: a plan to get everybody paid. We have our worries though. I’ll let Will [Zorn] take it away but we want to hear what happened.”

I explained the fear that as cannabis connoisseurs we grow attached to the brands. Corporate cannabis deals historically have been a matter of buying the competition for market share. Everyone says they’re different but how is this different from those of the past?

“We’re not in the same targeted brand positioning,” Buck said. “We’re in different segments. Everyone’s looking at mergers and acquisitions in the industry and assuming all deals are the same: if you’re a pub-co, you’re all the same. People are prejudicing before any details are out.”

Buck ran us through the Letter of Intent (LOI) and the laundry-list of things that needed to get done before the deal could be considered done. He then discussed how Royal City’s hopes to help micro-cultivators come to market will translate into reality with the deal. He also pointed to the Canopy and Supreme merger, which came weeks after the closing of Canopy grow facilities as an example of what the new company won’t do.

While Buck’s enthusiasm seemed authentic, the skeptic in me recoiled. I’ve worked for “the Big Guys” and I’ve seen well-intentioned projects quickly be swept aside in favour of projects promising ROI. What ultimately set Royal City apart when I discovered them was the fact they were owned by their employees. I heard stories of the CEO scrubbing toilets clean and how those in every and all positions met up in the trim room to spend the night manicuring bud. They were stories of stock-holders working on the very product they’ve invested in: an active base.

“My concern is what made Royal City bud special was that the people who owned the company handled the product,” I said. “I own a handful of WeedMD shares. Unfortunately, I’m not the one who’s trimming. How is this going to change the product?”

“Our cap-table,” Buck said, “which is employee-owned, becomes owners in the new company. The single largest shareholder [in Entourage] is a pension fund that represents labour across North America. So we are a worker-owned entity.”

Buck seemed confident about the new organization’s leadership as he believed the stock wouldn’t be in the hands of corporate Brads n’ Chads, but lovers of the plant.

“There isn’t a big institution, banks, or other things involved in this. The people who are supporting this are the people who believed in WeedMD in the early days. They’re sitting on their shares and are waiting for someone to articulate a vision”.

In the summer, prior to changing it’s name to Entourage Health, WeedMD sold a subsidiary named Starseed medical at a hefty loss. The move reminded me of Buck’s comment about Canopy and Supreme’s merger.

Our founder, Will, spoke with Royal City’s leadership again after the Starseed sale.

This time Buck and Geoff Webb were joined

by Jeff Scanlon. Will asked them about the Starseed sale but also wanted to report on other aspects of the company’s operations.

Scanlon had other ambitions.

After reading a draft of the story to this point Scanlon said, “I think there’s an easy way to tell the story and then there’s the braver way. I think you guys have taken the easy way by saying ‘Wow, look at another one of these back-end things. Great founders sell out, yada, yada, yada.’ We can all tell that story. It’s easy.”

— Jeff Scanlon, Royal City’s Scanlon and Buck both went on to push the idea—again—that this acquisition is not VP of Business Development like the others. They both tried to make the case that for a publicly traded company to survive it would need to incorporate craft into its portfolio. On the flip side, the craft producers needed the money from bigger pockets if they wanted to lead the way in changing the profit-centric culture of the industry. This deal, they assured us, was not like the others. To think otherwise somehow made us cowards.

“I think you guys have taken the easy way by saying ‘Wow, look, another one of these backend things. Great founders sell out, yada, yada, yada.’ We can all tell that story. It’s easy.”

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n late November of 2020, Royal City’s leadership began firing staff from a number of departments. The trimming and packaging operation in Guelph is reportedly moving 90 minutes away from its current location.

Senior leaders of Entourage informed employees affected by this move they can keep their jobs—as long as they also move or commute 90 minutes twice a day. Entourage will likely replace employees who leave because of this with temporary labourers.

How long did Scanlon and Buck know they would eventually be firing a large portion of their staff? How much do they actually know about how things will run under Entourage?

Scanlon’s brother secured a job as the head of cultivation for all of Entourage. Buck will likely end up as Chief Innovation Officer in the new company. It’s unlikely Scanlon will find himself trying to collect E.I. with the rest of his employees. We could try and find out but, as Scanlon pointed out, we do like taking the easy way.

StonePetal Edibles Hashies

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by Dan Morris

or a while we’ve been playing with the concept of edibles made with flower, but this is different. We started with a Canadian classic: the dutchie. It’s a doughnut popularized by a well-known coffee shop named Tim Horton’s. You might’ve heard of them. While their dutchie is discontinued, ours is just premiering.

On the opposite page we take you stepby-step through the making of infused Hashies: a crisp, flaky dough packed with rehydrated raisins (deep-fried to preserve their infused interior) and glazed with a sweet, sugary coating. Inside the dough we infused a gram of hash. This hash is loaded with sesquiterpenes like beta-caryophyllene and farnesene which are more resilient to heat and enhance the tartness of the raisins.

Grab yourself a dozen!

What You’ll Need

Infusion Steps

- 1 cup Sultana raisins - 1 cup 2% milk - 8 g of quick-rise yeast - 1/4 cup granulated sugar - 1/4 cup melted, unsalted butter - 1 egg - 1/2 tsp salt - 2.5 cups all purpose flour - 2 cups icing sugar - 1/4 cup water - 1 g Hash

1. Place 1 cup of butter in a mason jar.

2. Break apart Hash into rice-sized bits and drop into the mason jar with the butter, cover jar loosely with lid.

3. Place jar in slow cooker and surround with warm water. Be careful not to get water inside the jar.

4. Set slowcooker to low for 4 hours, stirring once halfway through.

5. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes.

Infused Hashies Recipe 1. Soak raisins in boiling water for 10 min until plump. Drain well afterwards.

2. Microwave milk for 45 seconds, pour into a large bowl. Add yeast and stir. Let stand for 10 min.

3. Beat in raisins, sugar, infused hash butter, egg and salt. Then add flour.

4. Beat for 5-10min until dough pulls away cleanly from sides.

5. Spray a medium bowl with oil and place dough inside. Cover with a damp tea towel for 1 hour until dough doubles in size.

6. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with oil.

Flour a countertop or clean surface and roll out dough until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 12 squares and transfer to parchment paper. Cover with a damp tea towel for 45 min.

7. Pour canola oil into pot until 1 inch deep. Heat to 350F over medium. Adjust heat as necessary to maintain this temperature.

8. Fry dough squares for 3-4min on each side. Drain on paper towel.

9. Combine icing sugar and water to make glaze.

10. Dip warm dutchies into glaze and serve.

GANJA YOGA

by Nitz

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anja yoga, stoned yoga, high yoga—call it what you want but have you ever tried it? Like tea ever so slowly infusing into water, cannabis infuses us with characteristics of great power that we can use to channel a higher self. As mindful practices become a focus for self-growth and personal development, many are coming to realize that cannabis and yoga share a poetic compliment to one another.

My name is Nitz and I am a ganja yoga teacher. I have been a long time cannabis consumer and share a traditional trifold practice intersecting plant medicine with meditation (dhyana), postures (asana) and breathwork (pranayama).

Being born and bred in Toronto I’ve seen (as my Swami in India would say) “the bastardization of yoga” unfold right before my eyes for over a decade. The Western world certainly did a number on a traditional indigenous practice, correlating flexibility with how “spiritual” one was for decades. What a joke, right? The more I sought out yoga at home the more frustrated and insecure I felt—it didn’t feel like yoga at all. Having hit a saturation point in my search, I heard a deep calling from within to go back to my roots, learn yoga in my Motherland and bring it back home to share with everyone I know.

Being a stoner for quite some time, I had been practicing high yoga on my own for years but my intention came at a completely different angle and time in life. My father is also an Indian-trained yoga teacher. Like all kids I rarely enjoyed being told to do something and at a young age I didn’t know why we practiced. As I got older the physical value behind yoga became apparent but I was far too hard-headed to care for mindfulness. I always needed to do it my way, which was “If I’m gunna have to do yoga I’m at least gunna be high for it.” It wasn’t until my 20’s, when I began to incorporate meditation and a purpose of achieving stillness, that I was able to dive deep into high yogic bliss.

To be frank, practicing high has been controversial for far too long. People seem to get offended right off the bat at any talk of doing yoga high. Indians today love to hold onto the pot stigma, denying any value in the plant and believing only “lower class” degenerates use “drugs”. This attitude persists despite the fact there are scriptures in the Vedas (a large collection of ancient Hindu texts) that claim otherwise. The Vedas refer to an intoxicant called Soma and suggests this is something all yogis should take to get closer to the higher self. Soma is often the

juice of a medicinal plant mixed with other ingredients that are said to render psychoactive healing. Similar to the Vedas, there are other ancient texts built around yogic practices called the Yogasutras. In Yogasutra 4.1, “herbs’’ (ausadhi) are defined as one of five ways to “remove the veil of ignorance” that burdens us all. Cannabis, as a holy plant, is even known as Lord Shiva’s prasad (religious offering) in India. He is often depicted holding a chillum (a conical smoking pipe popularized in the 18th century in India). Ayurveda, an ancient practice focused on holistic and preventative health practices, even suggests there is value for the plant. Cannabis is found in over 80 traditional Ayurvedic formulas, several of which are still available today in India.

It’s clearer than day that the cannabis plant has been severely maligned, even where it’s indigenous. Yogis have been using herbs to supplement their practice for millennia. Ascetics such as sadhus, sages and other holy men are often depicted as criminals today for embracing a plant that aided them in building the foundation of their spirituality. They prefer to live without material goods, resonating with a celestial state of the subtle consciousness, and cannabis has been the main vehicle in this journey for centuries. Needless to say, not just anyone can bravely tread this path. Naturally, they are often misunderstood and yet few critics care to learn and understand why they take on this pursuit. We see this paralleled in cannabis use in North America as well. More often than not those who are not on board with the plant are likely ignorant to the plant’s vast healing properties.

So, who is the higher self and how does cannabis help you meet them? Conscious cannabis consumption is at the forefront of every high yogi’s mind. Before, during and after a practice of meditation, postural flows and breathwork, cannabis acts as a subtle guide. Alongside mindful consumption (most people choose to microdose during a yoga practice), cannabis speaks to a more intuitive flow that really allows you to listen to yourself and your body. In this pursuit of self understanding, pot can really highlight our senses in a manner that keeps you present in the moment. By incorporating high yoga in a daily practice, you are tapping into an elevated state of mind. By quieting down the outside world, we are able to hone our focus and dive deep into the meditative self.

The essence and clarity that we seek out and gain from mindful practices is a reflection of the higher self. Hindu scripts can be quite thorough on this topic. I invite you to read up on the Atman in Hindu philosophy if you’re curious to know more.

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k, so we can consciously use cannabis as plant medicine to deepen our self awareness. Sweet! How can I do this at home, you ask? Well, whether you’re a beginner or long-time yogi, certain rules are always applicable when combining cannabis with yoga. Here are the rules I share with all my clients: 1. Consume less cannabis than you usually do (microdoses are a great way to start - start low and go slow) 2. Move with intention and don’t lose balance this is how injuries happen 3. If you feel lightheaded or unwell, come to child’s pose at any given time 4. Breathe deep - don’t forget the power of your breath 5. Focus - remember why you’re practicing Here are some cautions to also make note of: • distraction can occur - try to reel it back in if you daze off • being still is difficult when high but try to focus on your breath and go inward • paranoia happens, especially in group settings - a nice tip is to keep a few peppercorns on hand as its predominant terpene, alpha-pinene, works synergistically with THC to create a calmer high With all this said, I would love to share a few of my favourite pranayama/breathwork practices that you can try at home after infusing yourself with our favourite plant. Please listen to your body and take breaks where you feel are necessary.

Breathwork Exercise 1 1. After consuming cannabis, find a comfortable seated position 2. Using your right hand, tuck your “peace fingers” down. You will be using your thumb and ring finger only 3. Place your thumb on your right nostril and breathe in through your left nostril 4. Once you’ve inhaled as much as you can on the left side, place your ring finger over the left nostril and exhale out the right side fully 5. Inhale from the right nostril then plug it with the thumb and exhale fully out the left side This is one rotation - do this 10 times with a slow, consistent breath. Try this with your eyes closed and aim to mentally commit to the your seated posture for the duration of this practice.

N.B. This practice slows down the breath and is known to help control anxiety. You can practice it at any point in the day.

Breathwork Exercise 2 1. Find a comfortable seated posture 2. Take a deep belly (diaphragmatic) breath full of air in through the nose while inhaling for 4 counts 3. Exhale fully and slowly out the mouth for 6 counts 4. Do this 10x and consume some cannabis 5. Jump back into another cycle of 10 after you’re high and repeat as necessary

Breathwork Exercise 3 1. Find a comfortable seated posture 2. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath in through the nose for 3 counts 3. Hold the breath for 6 counts 4. Exhale fully and slowly out of the mouth for 9 counts 5. Repeat this 5x and use caution if feeling lightheaded. Consume a smaller amount of cannabis than usual when practicing this breathwork as it can become intense quickly.

N.B. Breathwork 2 and 3 require you to extend the exhalation of breath - this practice supports the parasympathetic nervous system. The vagus nerve (responsible for your body’s relaxation) releases a neurotransmitter which directly counteracts fightor-flight stress by telling the heart to slow down. This guides you into a deeper state of relaxation.

Some of the benefits of these practices, as well as other forms of yoga with cannabis, are physical relief, mental clarity and deep relaxation all of which allow one to melt into yogic postures. With the focus on breathing throughout, cannabis and yoga work synergistically, especially when tuning out pain points.

Cannabis can also support sharpening concentration when used with intention. Seasoned stoner yogis find balancing postures more enriching with weed as it helps one focus on a point to balance through. While weed has gotten a lot of flak for being distracting, when used with purpose ganja yoga has the potential to keep your focus razor-sharp.

By bringing all your attention to the yogic practice you are able to convert your energy and attention inwards. This results in reassigning our attention by listening and trusting ourselves while soaking in all the physical benefits along the way.

The next time you get high or do yoga try doing both! Be sure to enter the practice with intention while keeping a keen ear to your inner guide. You’ll see the interior process of mindfulness combined with yoga and cannabis is magically transformative.

“We made a business decision to end his employment with us and we did that for our own legitimate reasons.”

— 8 May 2021, OGEN Ltd.

“We

have been diligent in building an empowering work environment for all OGEN employees and we do not want to see it tarnished by the efforts of the disgruntled few.”

— 30 Jun 2021, Darren Brisebois President of OGEN Ltd.

GHOST THE

“It was this fucked up circle of everyone covering their ass — a total toxic workplace.”

— 5 July 2021, Anonymous Former Employee of OGEN

“I felt ashamed to work for a company that treated their people the way they did.”

— 13 August 2021, Justin Almgren Former Head of Security at OGEN Ltd

“Observed multiple incidences of management covering up their own inexperience and mistakes on employees.”

— 8 January 2021, Anonymous Former Employee of OGEN on glassdoor.ca

“Give me a reason for firing me.”

— 15 January 2021, Daniel Saez Former Master Grower at OGEN Ltd

OF

OGEN

“If I didn’t know Danny I guarantee you we’d be struggling here big time.”

— 15 Jul 2021, Jeff Aubin Owner of Smoker Farms

“I’m scared of what happened to Danny happening to me.”

— 4 June 2021, Benji Selma Former Employee of OGEN Ltd.

Benji Selma and Daniel Saez, both formers employees of OGEN Ltd. Selma loved working on Saez’s team and says he learned much from him.

In the spring of 2021 Daniel Saez filed a civil lawsuit against OGEN Ltd. It is the third time a former employee has sued or settled with the company for wrongful or constructive dismissal.

Since then we’ve collected dozens of hours of interviews, court filings, bankruptcy records, ownership information and other public documents to help describe the working environment at OGEN. Despite repeated requests the company has refused to be interviewed about working conditions at their facility in Calgary.

S

itting in the back of a cab, Daniel Saez listened to his driver, Binyam Asress, profess a deep love of Spain.

At times leaning forward, animated and engaging, Saez seemed an authentically friendly and interested character. Asress finished his story of living like a local in Saez’s homeland with a shrug and a laugh but as Saez searched for a story in kind about his experience in Canada he faltered.

“That story melts my heart,” Saez said, his voice cracking. “I’m not having a really good time now.”

In videos posted to Asress’ Instagram account Saez recounts his time working for OGEN Ltd., a licensed cannabis producer in Calgary, Alberta. The President of the company, Darren Brisebois, flew to Barcelona to offer Saez a job in 2019 as the company’s Master Grower. He then extended Saez’s contract (and working visa) in 2020 only to fire him abruptly less than four months later. Saez is suing the company for damages in civil court. He argues OGEN broke its contract with him by constructively dismissing him. Constructive dismissal is a legal phrase essentially meaning OGEN sought to undermine Saez’s performance at work in order to have a reason to fire him. After interviewing Saez and several other people with direct knowledge of OGEN’s working environment a disturbing picture emerged. The testimony of these witnesses revealed the following: • Two other employees sought to sue OGEN for wrongful dismissal but ended up settling with the company out of court.

• OGEN’s HR department did not keep appropriate information confidential from company leadership, leading to fears of retaliation among employees for complaints involving supervisors and senior leaders in the company.

• On more than one occasion—and for a period of more than a month—employees paid for growing supplies out of their own pocket (e.g. cloning gel).

• A lack of proper facilities for employees (e.g. no lunch room with heat).

• OGEN claimed the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy despite laying off all but six employees in the early stages of the pandemic.

In Alberta, it is legal for an employer to fire an employee without cause or notice as long as the employee is given an appropriate amount of pay in lieu of that notice. It seems to be the preferred disposal method for anyone President Darren Brisebois needs, or wants, to get rid of quickly.

Bloom Cultivation Ltd incorporates in Calgary, AB

27 Apr 2018

12 Jan 2017

Bloom receives Health Canada license to cultivate and process cannabis

Darren Brisebois flies to meet Daniel Saez at Spannabis Hemp Fair in Barcelona, Spain

15-17 March 2019

Binyam Asress, an Uber driver, reacts to Daniel Saez’s story about his time at OGEN

05 Oct 2019

Louis Smith, Bloom’s Head of Operations, is fired over email by President Darren Brisebois despite 20+ years of operations experience. He is replaced by James Brophy, a Brisebois associate with no experience in the cannabis industry.

Saez’s first day of work. One day after former founder Steve Dunphy leaves the company.

Early April 2020

M

ichael Dansen—which is a pseudonym we are using to protect the identity of a source—worked at OGEN prior to Daniel Saez’s arrival. Although he eventually quit due to a lack of trust in the company’s leadership, Dansen remembered being excited about working with OGEN’s new master grower.

“I was stoked,” Dansen said, “and I’ve never been like that.”

In addition to degrees in both agricultural and industrial engineering, Daniel Saez worked for the Strainhunter’s Greenhouse Seed Company for five years. He has international experience in everything from pest management to breeding. He spent his life building skills to prepare for a legal cannabis market but the move from Spain to Canada almost didn’t happen. On top of the pay cut he would take stepping away from his consulting work Saez had to factor in his house in Spain and his upcoming wedding. In the end, the lure of being a master grower for one of the world’s first legal cannabis companies, combined with OGEN’s persistence, was too much to ignore.

He signed.

The day before Saez arrived at OGEN’s facility in early October 2019 founder Steve Dunphy quit. According to more than one source the decision followed a particularly notable “screaming” match between Dunphy and President Darren Brisebois. Saez ignored the situation and kept his head down.

“I was shocked,” he said. “But for me, I’m an expert on plants. I told myself: ‘Focus on plants, Danny. That’s what you like that’s what you love. Just do your work. Focus on your work and you will be safe.’ ” For the next few months Saez informed nearly every new decision OGEN made when it came to cultivation.

He experimented with nutrient schedules, advised on pesticides, conducted phenotyping, breeding and all the other tasks expected of a master grower.

In the new year employees in the cultivation team received a survey from a magazine called Cannabis Business Times located in Ohio. Based on the results of that survey the magazine awarded OGEN “Best Cannabis Companies to Work for — Cultivation.” Everyone we spoke to attributed the positive survey responses to Saez’s presence within the company.

Another anonymous source we’ve named Kenneth Parcel had been with OGEN since its early days until he too was fired by Brisebois.

“People didn’t take notice of OGEN until Danny sarted with the company,” Parcel said. “The way Darren trotted that around came back to bite him in the ass.”

Health Canada approves Bloom’s phase 2 amendment to their license roughly tripling Bloom’s required headcount

24 Jun 2020

14 May 2020

Bloom Cultivation changes its name to OGEN

OGEN extends Saez’s employment another two years until 22 Oct 2022

15 Sep 2020

In February of 2020—right as COVID hit North America—an article about OGEN’s win appeared on the magazine’s website. Brisebois is the only subject interviewed.

In one photo of OGEN’s garden Brisebois is positioned between Brandon Godfrey (who quit and whose partner quit with him) and Saez, who is now suing. Note Brisebois’ lack of hairnet and protective glasses.

“When you look at the award its Darren on the cover page,” Parcel said. “Maybe put the focus on the L to R : Brandon Godfrey, Darren Brisebois, Daniel Saez in OGEN’s team that got you there.”

OGEN does not appear in Cannabis Business garden. Godfrey quit in tears shortly before Brisebois fired Saez in January. (Photo Credit: Cooper and O’Hara Photography) Times’ rankings for 2021 at all.

“I don’t recall if OGEN participated,” wrote Noelle Skodzinksi, Editorial Director of Cannabis Business Times in an email. “We don’t share the names of companies that applied but don’t rank.”

I

n early 2020 the full extent of the pandemic became clear and OGEN, like many companies, laid off 80% of its staff (24 of 30 non-management employees). Despite the layoffs it would later receive funds from the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). The amount claimed is unknown.

“We made extra hours,” Saez said, “Literally, one of the worst moments to be alive and to be working. The six people in production who worked through COVID felt like we were risking our lives just to make sure everybody else could keep their jobs once all this was over.”

During the following months Health Canada inspected OGEN’s facility virtually to approve an already delayed expansion for production. Re-staffing for the upcoming approval became paramount. The expansion required a tripling of OGEN’s workforce. In the shuffle, Brisebois fired Lou Smith, the company’s Head of Operations and

Holiday Season 2020

Brisebois fires Saez without cause.

Brandon Godfrey quits in tears.

Gary Edwards, principal shareholder of OGEN asks for some of Saez’s genetics for another new business

15 Jan 2021

March 2021

Brisebois fires Justin Almgren, OGEN’s Head of Security and long-time employee without cause

Chairman Brisebois smiles for a magazine cover

someone with 20 years of operations experience, by email. In his place Brisebois hired one of his own former associates, James Brophy, who had no experience in the cannabis industry. Smith reportedly threatened to sue OGEN and instead settled.

In May of 2020 OGEN received their expansion approval and work began to fill up new rooms. It isn’t clear exactly when problems with Human Resources began but several sources independently described a complete lack of faith in its ability to protect employee confidentiality.

“Things I told them that should have been confidential were repeated,” said one employee. “All of production was making the joke: ‘If you don’t want Darren to know don’t tell [HR]’.”

Throughout the latter half of 2020 Saez kept getting complaints from production staff about James Brophy’s ability to manage their departments. Saez’s duties focused solely on plants. It fell to Brophy to make decisions about everything else, including promotions, roles and vacation. When Saez told employees they should report their complaints to HR they scoffed, explaining it functioned more like a snitch line than a confidential way to lodge complaints. The employees told him they feared retaliation from senior leaders in the company. Saez decided to test the allegation himself.

“I made something up,” Saez said, “I said that I rejected an offer from B.C. and I wanted to know what was going on with my contract. The next day [Brisebois] contacted me, yelling ‘Why is everyone telling me you rejected an offer from BC?’” Not only were operations and HR broken but finance, too, became problematic.

“We couldn’t buy fucking rooting gel,” an employee said. “Yes, I guess you could clone without it but what the fuck? That’s the cheapest expense. We bought it for months, probably two or three months.”

Brisebois himself lacks any experience in cannabis beyond his work with OGEN. He began work as a contractor with the fledgling company early on in its history and somehow attained the role of President when the company had less than 10 employees. Two of the original founders, Steve Dunphy and Ryan Crooks, have both left the company since Brisebois took the reins.

Culture, though, is ultimately set by owners. Brisebois makes six figures largely because he executes decisions made by OGEN’s shareholders. So, who are they? Gary Edwards started in construction, pouring concrete for residential developments close to Calgary. Allan Morrison owned the homes Edwards poured the concrete for and now also owns 31.8% of OGEN through Hawksworth Holdings Limited. With 33.1% of the remaining shares, Edwards is the one really running the show. He also owns a resort in Costa Rica called Bodhi Tree. Morrison and Edwards are likely both aware of the issues in their company but are leaving Brisebois to decide on specifics.

When we first saw the video of Saez in the cab we wanted to give OGEN the benefit of the doubt. We really liked the flower Saez’s team produced and thought the price point was generous given the competition. So we reached out directly to OGEN’s Instagram asking for their comment. They declined to give an interview on the topic and essentially stated the matter was before the courts.

As we learned more about the working environment beyond the Saez lawsuit we reached out again to Darren Brisebois specifically over LinkedIn but received no response. Later, when we posted on our social media channels about their refusal to answer our questions we received a lengthy response from Brisebois which directed us to court documents and also referred us to the award they won before he fired Saez.

Brisebois also offered to fly us out but still did not agree to a phone call. We declined the flight because of COVID risks and the appearance of bias (read our ethics statement at stashmagazine.ca for more on that) and continued to press for a telephone interview. To this day OGEN still will not take our questions.

I

n August of 2020 Saez finally took vacation. Before he left he sat down with Brisebois to discuss his contract.

“After one year what do you have to say? My contract is going to expire in September and I don’t know if you want to renew it or not,” Saez said. “You’re not telling me anything.”

“No worries,” Brisebois said, “once you’re back from holidays you’ll have an answer from the investors and from me.”

Although his original plan to go home to Spain fell through because of COVID, Saez still took time off.

When he returned to work a number of people thanked him for their new promotions. Perplexed, Saez booked a meeting with Brisebois.

“I went to the President again and I recorded everything,” Saez said. “I said ‘Why didn’t you come to me? I would have accepted. I’ve only been managing teams because there was nobody to manage them. It’s not even in my contract. Just ask me don’t operate behind me.”

The new contract Brisebois had promised back in the summer still hadn’t materialized. With complaints about Brophy and HR reaching a fever pitch, Saez tested HR’s confidentiality with his lie about refusing an offer from B.C. During that meeting with HR he also mentioned that he still didn’t have a contract. Whether it was due to that meeting or not, a few weeks later a new contract finally appeared for him to sign.

“Hey,” an HR employee said, “you have to sign this.”

“What is this?” Saez asked.

“It’s a section of your contract.”

“Well, I’m not going to sign this. I need to talk with Darren, the President. He told me he would have an answer for me after summer. It’s October .”

“Darren isn’t here ,” the HR employee said, “and you need to sign this otherwise you are going to run out of your work permit.”

Saez signed but wasn’t happy. After this he tried for months to sit with Brisebois and discuss his contract. In early December the pair finally met in private only for Brisebois to blame all of the company’s problems on Saez.

For almost three hours Brisebois accused Saez of poor decisions leading to lower quality product. In every case, Saez responded by showing Brisebois an email where Saez had disagreed with the very same decision while it was being proposed but was asked to go ahead with it anyways. In many cases the decisions were about post-harvest handling (drying, curing, packaging, etc.) that were not within Saez’s area of responsibility.

“I guess you’re doing too much,” Brisebois said. “You’re everywhere.”

“Yeah,” Saez said. “I’m exhausted because I’m doing someone else’s job. I want to do my work. Not everyone else’s work. I’m just worried about the company and you are accusing me of things that I’m not even responsible for. And by the way you never came to me with a better offer you forced me to accept my contract for two more years.”

Stunned, Brisebois stuttered for a moment before saying he would talk with the investors.

“I’ve been waiting since August. And the way you did it, extending me without talking to me first, that was really bad. I think I deserve better than that.”

I

n the company’s statement of defence OGEN accuses Saez of being the cause of all the company’s problems.

Our sources tell a different story. Benji Selma, learned how to grow weed in California. He’s a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S. and came to work at OGEN in part because of Saez’s reputation. Selma oversaw at least part of the company’s phenotyping program.

“Everything changed when Darren told Danny to step away from the floor,” Selma said. “A few weeks before I quit they [Brophy and Brisebois] came to the floor screaming all over the place. They gave me shit because one day I left a few minutes early.”

Selma didn’t stick around to find out if things would get better. As the person overseeing their phenotyping program he felt entitled to more respect. He now consults for another LP in Alberta.

Jeff Aubin owns Smoker Farms, a micro-cultivator in the Kootenays. Saez visited his facility several times on behalf of OGEN to help install feeding systems. Aubin had nothing but good things to say about Saez.

“He would be the number one top worker that I’ve ever seen in any cannabis industry ever,” Aubin said. “If I could have him on staff here he would have never left Canada. Danny’s work ethic is 11 out of 10.”

“Danny wasn’t the bad guy,” Kenneth Parcel said, “everyone loved Danny, including me. He was slowly being pushed out of his role.”

Whatever criticisms Brisebois had of Saez must never have been communicated to the owners. Over the 2020 holiday season Gary Edwards, principal shareholder of OGEN and concrete magnate, asked Saez if he could help with another microcultivator Edwards owned in Okotoks, Alberta. Specifically, Edwards asked Saez to bring his genetics in to start a breeding progam at the new LP. One question we have for OGEN is about how they acquired their genetics. All seeds and clones must be declared within weeks of a license being granted. If a company wants a new strain they need to breed or buy from another LP. How did OGEN introduce new genetics prior to Edwards’ new license?

In response to Edwards’ request for new seeds Saez deferred, saying he was interested but would discuss specifics in the new year. Weeks later, in early January 2021, roughly half a dozen employees quit OGEN including long-time cultivator Brandon Godfrey. In attempting to determine how many overtime hours he had worked, Godfrey accessed a security system used to track movement through the facility. When Brisebois found this out he tried to bar Godfrey’s access to that system despite it being the only way to independently track worked hours at the facility.

Godfrey and his partner left the company because their concerns about the work environment were not being addressed. Godfrey felt so betrayed by the company’s senior leaders he reportedly cried and spent several hours with Brisebois explaining his reasons for leaving.

On January 8th an anonymous post about OGEN appeared on glassdoor.ca: “Observed multiple incidences of management covering up their own inexperience and mistakes on employees.”

A

week later, during a meeting about THC results, Saez began receiving text messages from Brisebois that were a complete reversal of the President’s attitude only a month earlier.

“We’ve never seen Lemon Zkittles above 24%—you’re getting 25.2%,” the texts from Brisebois read.

“Keep doing what you’re doing. The THC results are crazy.”

In another text, Brisebois wrote he would talk to the investors to increase Saez’s compensation. The texts made Saez wonder if the wave of employees quitting finally made Brisebois realize things needed to change. Maybe he would finally deliver on all the promises he made not just to Saez but to the rest of the employees as well.

That Friday, right before the production team’s weekly post-work beer session, Brisebois called Saez off the floor. He asked Saez to enter all of his notes about the phenohunt into OGEN’s computer system. The company would soon receive lab results for the hunted plants and Brisebois wanted to have everything in one place. A few minutes later, while Saez worked on transferring the notes, Brisebois showed up in Saez’s office. Saez described his conversation with Brisebois as follows: “I talked with the team,” Brisebois started, “and people need some motivators.”

“Man, I’ve been telling you for awhile,” Saez responded. “It’s because of the way we are managing everything.

I’m trying to protect them but it’s difficult when you are asking them to do 50 million things at the same time.

They’re just burnt out. The salary’s not that good. I want to do something to solve it. I’ve been telling you for fucking months and you were ignoring me. Now you come to my office telling me exactly what I told you months ago. Like OK. Perfect.”

Brisebois then began talking about increasing compensation, improving roles and other ways to boost morale.

Eventually, he left to use the washroom. When he came back to Saez’s office he stood in the door and said: “Ok, give me your key card. You are gone.”

“Sorry, what?” Saez asked.

“Yeah,” Brisebois said, “give me your key card you are done here.”

“I don’t understand,” Saez said, “What do you mean my keycard? For what? Why do you need my key card?”

“You are being fired,” Brisebois said.

“Are you serious?” Saez asked.

“Yes, absolutely serious.”

“Ok, do you want to think about it for a couple of minutes and come back? I’m fine if you regret your decision.”

“Nope,” Brisebois said. “I made the decision already.”

“Ok, then give me a reason for firing me.”

“Nope, go home. Talk to your wife and tell me next week if you want to stay in Canada or leave.”

“I moved to Canada for you guys,” Saez said, “obviously I want to stay here otherwise why would I move here?

Why would I extend my contract an extra two years to stay here if I don’t want to stay here? What the fuck, man?

Give me a reason—a solid reason—why you are firing me.”

“You were not able to contain the negativity of the team.”

Saez grabbed a copy of his contract and held it up.

“Tell me where I manage people? Point to the spot on these papers where it says motivating is my responsibility.

You took that out of my responsibilities. You gave it to the cultivation supervisor so why are you now blaming

me?”

“Leave. Leave,” Brisebois said. “Leave now. Give me your key card.”

Saez collected his things in a box and with Brisebois and another employee flanking him he walked out of the building for the last time.

Saez’s team, who were waiting for him in the parking lot to have Friday beers, spotted him being escorted to his car.

“Danny!” One of them called out, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’ve been fired,” Saez shouted back.

The small crowd broke down in tears and confused shouting.

I

n March, two months after Saez’s termination, Brisebois terminated OGEN’s Health, Safety and Security Supervisor, Justin Almgren.

“The way they treated Danny was just downright disrespectful,” Almgren said. “My leaving was 100% due to mismanagement of that company and I honestly felt ashamed to work for a company that treated their people the way they did. It was disgusting.”

Due to the nature of a settlement agreement between OGEN and Almgren we cannot use any information given by him about that event in our publication. Fortunately, there were witnesses.

Having been with the company for several years, Almgren arrived at an agreement with OGEN’s leadership around laying him off so he could return to school. On his last day, minutes before a barbecue celebrating his transition began, Brisebois called Almgren into his office.

The pair were joined by James Brophy. When all three emerged several minutes later Almgren walked quickly to his car with Brisebois and Broph following and shouting at him. Several employees waiting to congratulate Almgren on his last day observed this event. Almgren proceeded to hire a lawyer to sue OGEN for wrongful dismissal but, like Lou Smith, has since settled the lawsuit out of court.

F

or Saez the termination and the negative feelings surrounding it consumed him for months. It still affects him today. Not even the investors—who had enthusiastically begged him for seeds only weeks before his termination—would respond to his farewell text.

Theoretically, it’d be easy for Saez to find another job but that new company would need to sponsor him for immigration as well. Immigration issues rarely proceed quickly. At the time, Saez wondered how he would provide for himself. He wondered what he did wrong.

“I’ve never been fired in my life. Now every time I get an offer I’m scared I’ll be treated the same way,” Saez said. “Look what happened when I put all my knowledge, experience, genetics and everything in. What if they take it again?”

OGEN reportedly continues to face staff shortages due to high turnover but is technically not doing anything wrong by firing employees without cause or notice. In Alberta, as mentioned earlier, an employer can fire an employee without notice or cause as long as that employee is given an appropriate amount of pay. In Saez’s case that amount is about a week’s pay. OGEN did give this to Saez. OGEN also gave Saez an additional $1,200

“COVID Bonus” which is likely related to the company’s claiming of the CEWS government benefit. On top of these two relatively small sums, OGEN offered Saez a settlement but only if he signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Saez decided to file a lawsuit instead, alleging that OGEN breached their employment contract. He charges they owe him the balance of the salary he would have collected had OGEN not sabotaged the relationship. Based on the facts we’ve collected and presented here we believe OGEN breached the following section of its contract with Saez: “OGEN will not, without reasonable cause, conduct itself in a manner calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence between itself and Daniel Saez.”

Ultimately, a judge will decide whether there is merit to Saez’s claim. The judge’s decision will be based on the proofs either side musters for the trial. If Saez’s claim is not awarded it is likely because of the Albertan laws around wrongful dismissal. You can read both the statements of claim and defence on our website.

Saez returned home to Spain but the suit remains. A hearing date will likely be scheduled in mid-2022 and Stash will do its best to cover that along with any new leads that come our way. In the meantime, OGEN’s former employees struggle to carry on.

“Even now,” Michael Dansen said, “I’m still trying to make sense of what happened.”

“I feel bad for the people that are still there,” Justin Almgren said. He is now pursuing his Red Seal in Mechanical Refrigeration at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. “Those people are my friends. I hate to see them treated so poorly. They work super hard and deserve better. It’s sad because a lot of them are too scared to say anything.”

In Spain, Saez is picking up the pieces of his former life and hoping his story can help people protect themselves in the future.

“It’s been a long way to get to legalization,” Saez said, “and now all these mega corporations are taking everything from us: genetics, knowledge, experience, contacts, culture. I believed that OGEN was going to be different. I was very wrong my friend.”

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This past year Msiku won the New Brunswick Cannabis Cup’s Best in Grow and Best Experience categories with one of their newest flowers: ICC x Kush Mints 11. In our opinion Kush Mints is first in class across the board. The nose is orange creamsicle with an uplifting but faint peppermint twang on the tail end. The effects become apparent within minutes and are absolutely worth the spend. We look forward to their rumored breeding experiments.

Although the Quebec market has been slow to adopt home growing and high quality concentrates some of their LPs are producing true fire. Tribal’s Gelato Mint is smooth and clean with a sweet tail end in a smoke. At a reasonable price point this cultivar is worth a try.

Our publisher’s favourite cultivar from the past few months, Carmel’s MAC 1 is a sweet and gassy pheno of a classic face-melting strain. As one of the first LPs to list terpenes and lineage along with expected aroma and presentation, its clear the folks at Carmel love what they do.

Many LPs have tried to get a Black Cherry pheno going but Flowr’s stands out among the crowd.

Purple marbling, a clean pull and a bright burst of cherry mark this well-handled bud. Combined with recyclable packaging and Flowr’s advocacy on behalf of Cannabis Amnesty, this herb makes for a completely guilt-free experience.

Persy’s first drop flew off the shelves this past summer. Their Animal Face Live Rosin Batter perfectly expresses the flavour and effects of the Carmel-grown flower. Premium products like this are few and far between but are a direct reflection of top-end growing and processing practices. Persy’s focus on quality over quantity pays dividends for customers.

Tight, dense, beautifully stacked buds literally coated in a thick film of trichomes, Lot 420’s Gelato 33 put Quebec herb on the map earlier this year. Now available in Ontario, this pheno of another classic is one of Gelato’s best expressions to make it to the legal market.

As an organic producer from Saltspring Island, B.C., the team at Goodbuds has been known to harvest and process some great stuff. Their Mango Taffie is no different. Bright, sweet citrus aromas accompany an uplifting high, perfect for a hike or brunch with the folks.

Reef’s Gorilla Glue #4 is an incredible flower true to its form and then some. At a whopping 28% THC and almost 5% terpenes this bud’s stickiness and fresh gas aroma are one of a kind.

The latest addition to Quebec’s burgeoning cannabis scene is MTL Cannabis Cookies n’ Creme.

Their Sage n’ Sour is one of the most popular strains in Ontario and out of respect for their home province they released this heavy hitting hybrid only in Quebec. Can you read those CBG numbers?

THE CHAMP

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by Sean Stevenson

olks this is the current pound-for-pound greatest flower on the legal market to date. Connor’s going to have to get used to sharing the moniker “Mystic MAC”, because BLKMKT has caught magic in a glass jar. My fellow earthlings, behold: MACFlurry (ICC x MAC).

Taking a note out of Notorious’ playbook these nugs are always dressed to the nines: not a hair or trichome out of place. You get hand-selected cola nugs that remind me of the frosted peaks of the Himalayas. The deep purples, greens and oranges create a canvas that allows the fully developed, creamy white trichomes to really pop out at you like you’re walking through a 3D art exhibit on mushrooms.

Now that we’ve established that it indeed looks like weed, let’s get “I’d like to take this chance to the good parts. The nose is bangin’. Smooth, sweet, creamy and a tiny bit sour. Reminds me of getting hit in the face with a key-lime to apologize ... to absolutely pie after being water boarded with coffee creamer and then taking NOBODY. THE DOUBLE a drag off a menthol cigarette. God, I miss Mexico. At 2.2% terps listed on the jar I wasn’t expecting the strong, defined and enjoyable CHAMP DOES WHAT aroma I ended up experiencing. The nose really translated to taste THE FUCK HE WANTS!” fantastically, too. The ICC parent became obvious when it’s telltale – Connor McGregor creamy aftertaste hung around longer than the “My Pillow” guy.

The ride is more fun than eating a banana split in the batmobile with your favorite song on blast. It’s pretty much my perfect high—ripping a huge bong hit is almost dangerous.

Have a chair ready because “You’ll do fookin’ NOTHIN’” with this dancing around your system. At just shy of

25% THC tested for the batch its got some stopping power. I don’t think Connor was drunk on Proper Twelve when he belted the old man in that pub. I think he just came back in from firing off a couple bowls of MACFlurry in the alley with the lads.

If ya try to go a few rounds with this boy you’re going to look like Donald Cerrone, picking yourself up off the mat after 40 seconds wondering what the fuck just happened. And just like going toe-to-toe with the self proclaimed “Pay-per-view Monster” you’ll need a full team of medical professionals to take care of you afterwards—the burnout is real.

Overall, it’s time to call Dana White into the ring for the belt presentation because we’ve got a new champ’s champ.

“The grass is greenest where you water it.”

- Unknown

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t’s hard to be excited about an industry where many players lie to their consumers, their employees and ultimately themselves. Leadership is important and we should never be afraid to challenge it to do better. But at the end of the day it takes a group, working together, to improve a workplace.

That’s why we dedicated this volume to the United Weed Workers group in Hamilton.

Livable wages, good benefits and an environment free of sexual harassment, racism and condescension should be standard everywhere but especially in an industry with such a strong sense of community and well-being.

We’ll do our best to keep shining a light in the dark places of Canadian cannabis but we ask you, Dear Reader, to help us too. Vote with your hard-earned dollars, ask companies you do business with how they treat their employees and try to educate others where possible. Above all else, stand up for your rights in the workplace. You aren’t the only one who benefits when you do.

Will McEwen Publisher